Oscars shortlists announced: Soul stirs, Birds of Prey soars as race narrows
The longest awards season on record just got a lot shorter.
Narrowing the contentious 2020-2021 Oscar race in nine below-the-line categories, the Academy revealed its annual shortlists filled with mainstream contenders this year.
Documentary mainstays that have regularly shown up on the precursor circuit have mostly made it to the Academy's corresponding shortlist, namely Dick Johnson Is Dead, My Octopus Teacher, Crip Camp, Boys State, and Time. Recurring International Feature standouts from the pre-Oscars circuit also appear here, including Denmark's Another Round, Guatemalan film La Llorona, Bosnia and Herzegovina's Quo Vadis, Aida? and Chilean production The Mole Agent.
Major studio productions also appeared across several shortlists, including Birds of Prey (Makeup and Hairstyling, Visual Effects), Mank (Makeup and Hairstyling, Original Score, Visual Effects), Soul (Original Score, Visual Effects), and one of the only blockbusters of the pandemic era, Christopher Nolan's Tenet (Original Score, Visual Effects).
Elsewhere, legendary songwriter Diane Warren lands two songs on the Original Score shortlist — The Life Ahead's "lo Sì (Seen)" and "Free" from The One and Only Ivan — on the road to adding more notices to her 11-strong Oscar nominations track record.
Curious absences abound, however, as Best Actress contender Andra Day's composition "Tigress & Tweed" from The United States vs. Billie Holiday does not appear on the Original Song shortlist, nor is the Taylor Swift-penned tune "Only the Young" from her Miss Americana Netflix documentary or Justin Timberlake's Max Martin collaboration "Just Sing" from Trolls: World Tour.
Nominations voting begins Friday, March 5, and runs through Wednesday, March 10. Nods will be announced on Monday, March 15, followed by ABC's broadcast of the 93rd Oscars ceremony on Sunday, April 25.
See the full 2021 Oscars shortlists in nine categories listed alphabetically below.
Documentary Feature
All In: The Fight for Democracy
Boys State
Collective
Crip Camp
Dick Johnson Is Dead
Gunda
MLK/FBI
The Mole Agent
My Octopus Teacher
Notturno
The Painter and the Thief
76 Days
Time
The Truffle Hunters
Welcome to Chechnya
Documentary — Short Subject
Abortion Helpline, This Is Lisa
Call Center Blues
Colette
A Concerto Is a Conversation
Do Not Split
Hunger Ward
Hysterical Girl
A Love Song for Latasha
The Speed Cubers
What Would Sophia Loren Do?
International Feature Film
Bosnia and Herzegovina — Quo Vadis, Aida?
Chile — The Mole Agent
Czech Republic — Charlatan
Denmark — Another Round
France — Two of Us
Guatemala — La Llorona
Hong Kong — Better Days
Iran — Sun Children
Ivory Coast — Night of the Kings
Mexico — I'm No Longer Here
Norway — Hope
Romania — Collective
Russia — Dear Comrades!
Taiwan — A Sun
Tunisia — The Man Who Sold His Skin
Makeup and Hairstyling
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Emma
The Glorias
Hillbilly Elegy
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
The Little Things
Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Mank
One Night in Miami...
Pinocchio
Original Score
Ammonite
Blizzard of Souls
Da 5 Bloods
The Invisible Man
Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
The Life Ahead
The Little Things
Mank
The Midnight Sky
Minari
Mulan
News of the World
Soul
Tenet
The Trial of the Chicago 7
Original Song
"Turntables" from All In: The Fight for Democracy
"See What You've Done" from Belly of the Beast
"Wuhan Flu" from Borat Subsequent Moviefilm: Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
"Husavik" from Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
"Never Break" from Giving Voice
"Make It Work" from Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey
"Fight For You" from Judas and the Black Messiah
"lo Sì (Seen)" from The Life Ahead
"Rain Song" from Minari
"Show Me Your Soul" from Mr. Soul!
"Loyal Brave True" from Mulan
"Free" from The One and Only Ivan
"Speak Now" from One Night in Miami...
"Green" from Sound of Metal
"Hear My Voice" from The Trial of the Chicago 7
Animated Short
Burrow
Genius Loci
If Anything Happens I Love You
Kapaemahu
Opera
Out
The Snail and the Whale
To Gerard
Traces
Yes-People
Live-Action Short
Bittu
Da Yie
Feeling Through
The Human Voice
The Kicksled Choir
The Letter Room
The Present
Two Distant Strangers
The Van
White Eye
Visual Effects
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
Bloodshot
Love and Monsters
Mank
The Midnight Sky
Mulan
The One and Only Ivan
Soul
Tenet
Welcome to Chechnya
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